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A Tale of Two Countries: Successes and Challenges in K-12 Computer Science Education in Israel and the United States

Published: 01 June 2014 Publication History

Abstract

This article tells a story of K-12 computer science in two different countries. These two countries differ profoundly in culture, language, government and state structure, and in their education systems. Despite these differences, however, they share the pursuit of excellence and high standards in K-12 education. In Israel, curriculum is determined at the national level. The high-school computer science curriculum has been in place for more than 20 years and is offered in all schools as an elective similar to biology, chemistry, and physics. The picture in the United States is more complex and therefore less amenable to generalization. Because educational policy is set at the state and sometimes even at the school district level, access to computer science courses and the content of those courses can vary even for schools within the same district. This article will describe the development of the curricula/standards in both countries and the current situation, focusing on common issues and challenges in areas such as equity and teacher training.

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  1. A Tale of Two Countries: Successes and Challenges in K-12 Computer Science Education in Israel and the United States

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    cover image ACM Transactions on Computing Education
    ACM Transactions on Computing Education  Volume 14, Issue 2
    Special Issue on Computing Education in (K-12) Schools
    June 2014
    180 pages
    EISSN:1946-6226
    DOI:10.1145/2642651
    Issue’s Table of Contents
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    Publication History

    Published: 01 June 2014
    Accepted: 01 April 2014
    Revised: 01 March 2014
    Received: 01 March 2013
    Published in TOCE Volume 14, Issue 2

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    1. Computer science
    2. computer science educators
    3. computer science teachers

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